Marin Sawashiro
Marin Sawashiro (沢白-間輪, The Phosphorus of Time rests in the Swamp of White) is a Taishoku Kokumin; and is supposed to be a reincarnation of a Buddha—and thus, she alone of all beings occupies the rarefied spot between deity and spiritual being, but living between two worlds has its blessings as well as curses. She is also known as "The Great Victorious Fighting Buddha" (闘戦勝仏, Tōsen Jōbutsu). Appearance Marin has a tall, slender and toned figure; with glistening ruby eyes and dirty blond hair which is bleach-blonde at the tips. It is unknown where her Hollow hole is. Marin normally wears a pair of armoured dark purple sleeves at her forearm with dark brown gloves, getting lighter as they descend. Her top is sleeveless and is of a light purplish colour, which is also the colour of her thigh-length mini-skirt and knee-length boots. She wears a dark purple strap at her chest that fastens around her chest, allowing for her to keep a combat-oriented attire. Personality Marin is a rather fragmented young woman; who seems to have a rather bad case of Dissociative Personality Disorder. This was actually cast upon her when she was a child; witnessing a certain horrific incident when she was young caused her mind to shatter and develop a second personality in order to cope with the trauma. The names for her alternate personalities are called Ai no Marin (愛の間輪, Loving Marin), and Nikushimi no Marin (憎しみの間輪, Hateful Marin). Ai no Marin is a caring and considerate young woman who attempts to do good; she is serene and graceful. She is good-natured and seemed to love flowers; because of her messianic nature, people hold her in high regards. Towards everyone, she is seen as an elder sister figure who would help anyone, even if it is detrimental to her. Even so, she is still rather shy about herself; stuttering in her speech and clumsily tripping over now and again. Altogether, she is a gentle and refined young lady who acts like the ideal Japanese lady. For someone whose life had just begun, Ai no Marin has been unusually sensitive to sufferings and mortality of life. Seeing pain and death wherever she want instilled enough despair in her, if not a crisis of faith. Nikushimi no Marin, on the other hand, is rough and brutish; almost like a wrathful embodiment of hate, seeing herself as above passions and attachments—befitting her role as a reincarnation of a Buddha. She looks on feelings with a mix of pity and compassion without being bound to them, with charity but not always with love. Detachment seems to be Nikushimi no Marin's answer to the poignant questions raised by life, and she is seeing existence from the point of God rather than living the experience. History It is noted, that immediately after coming to Rukongai, Marin, as a baby, stood up, took several steps in the north direction, and muttered, "I am chief of the world, eldest am I in the world, foremost am I in the world. This is the last birth. There is now no more coming to be." Naturally, a new born child cannot immediately talk; the child requires further development in order to speak fluently. Furthermore, every place Marin placed her foot as a child, a Lotus flower bloomed. Not much else is known about Marin's past. Story Powers and Abilities Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: While preferring to use Seireijutsu in battle, Marin is no less competent in the art of Zanjutsu. While she has rarely been shown utilizing her blade, it can be safely assumed that she is incredibly deadly with it. However, most of the time, she does wield her blade in conjunction with Magi in order to use it as a medium from which to fire Seireijutsu spells. *'Raijin Jūrengeki' (雷神十連撃, Thunder God Ten Combo Attack): A special technique which is exactly as the name says; Raijin Jūrengeki involves Marin infusing a Byakurai Kidō spell within her blade using Magi, before charging forwards and unleashing an overwhelming barrage of sweeping slashes towards the foe, pushing forwards all the while. With each attack, her foe is pushed backwards and held within an multitude of blows that lasts for ten strikes, with the final blow—an upwards slash—blowing the opponent into the air. This attack is actually a reference to the character, Heihachi Mishima, of the Tekken franchise, who can perform a string of 10 hits using various punch and kick inputs. Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Marin is overwhelmingly skilled in the art of Hakuda. Marin is most likely one of the most proficient Hakuda users to ever exist; with very few being able to match her in sheer skill. She can sufficiently deflect others' attacks and unleash her own blows, also being highly knowledgeable in counterattacking. Her attacks possess several magnitudes worth of impressive swiftness and power, leaving absolutely zero time for her foes to attempt to futilely counterattack. Additionally, it has proven difficult to actively lay a hand on her unless in the rare occasion that she enables this rare chance to occur. Kenpo Master: Kenpo is the Taishoku variant of Hohō. One of Marin's defining traits is her flawless speed. She is a master in this art, shown to be able to effortlessly take long strides and reach far away areas in a matter of seconds. Not only that, but her movement is fluid and precise, and rarely will she exert effort in movements. Her light frame also serves as a means to move at constant speeds whilst incorporating her unique swordsmanship to overwhelm her opponents from a middle-ranged distance. Often, Marin will resort to the use of "speed clones", making use of them to cause confusion to seep into the enemy before she restricts and destroys them with her Zanpakutō. *'Senka' (閃花, Flash Blossom): This Kenpo technique is used when one moves to their opponent's back, directly attacking and sealing their "Saketsu" (鎖結, Chain Binding) and "Hakusui" (鎖結, Soul Sleep) in one swift strike. The movement is so fast that an opponent may not be able to tell whether they was attacked from, the front or the back, and even an outside observer may find it impossible to tell what the movements are. This is Marin's favoured tactic of disabling a foe, if she does not wish to kill a foe right off the bat. Nature Manipulation: Due to being the reincarnation of a Buddha, Marin is connected directly and can communicate, influence, manipulate and control nature: all living beings and plants and natural phenomena, such as the weather and geology of the Earth and any other spiritual dimension, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. She can survive in any natural environment. Naturally, this also means she can tap into elements of nature, granting her various powers—in addition, she can control animals and plants, manipulating their abilities and forms. Because Marin is capable of communicating with nature itself, she instantly becomes knowledgeable of her surroundings; the link is so solid that the realms will respond to her emotions and desires. *'Nature Purification': As an extension of this ability, Marin is capable of purifying, healing, and generally influencing the health of nature; and by taking this fact into account, the plants and animals act favourably towards her. Sengyō Shōhi (専業消費, Specialty Consumption): A special ability of Marin's; by devouring the blood and flesh of an individual, she can gain their spiritual power as well as their abilities. In rare cases, she can gain Zanpakutō as well. Immense Spiritual Power: Marin is thought to be in possession of an incredible amount of spiritual power. Her spiritual power is noticeably very powerful, and has a very suffocating presence, known to cause great irritation to those of Lieutenant Class, and can cause severe injuries to seated officers through simple exertion. Because of her mastery over Kido, Marin has a natural control over the exertion of her spiritual energy, keeping it contained to the point where it is virtually impossible to detect her by normal means, though the constant effort can be taxing. *'Immunity to All Illusions': As the reincarnation of a Buddha, Marin is completely and utterly immune to any type of illusion- this is because as a Buddha, her mind is enlightened enough to see past all trickery and attempts to deceive her. Special Abilities Seireijutsu *'Seireijutsu' (精霊術, Spirit Techniques): Seireijutsu is a foreign branch of spellcasting and one of Marin's special abilities; it revolves around the distortion of time and space with traces of psychic power to move objects thrown in for good measure. Essentially, Seireijutsu enables Marin to create realistic illusions and distort time and space to enhance this ability, which she can also use at long-distance after finding the enemy's position. However, it should be noted that Seireijutsu isn't complete time-space manipulation; as it, at it's strongest, only enables to distort time and space—nothing more, nothing less. Seireijutsu is Marin's most powerful asset in battle; her approach usually aims at paralysis, not just physical, but mental as well. Her moves seem immaterial partly because she plays mind games by conjuring illusions, as dueling with Marin is much more a battle of will than mere spellcasting. **'Seikitai' (星気体, Astral Body): A special, supportive Seireijutsu technique in which Marin traces an exact copy of her body and then projects it outwards before distorting time and space around it, breathing life into it and basically making it an exact copy of her body—though it is intangible like a hologram, meaning that it can solely be used for communication. Even so, Seikitai can still be activated over massive distances, enabling Marin to be in two places at the same time. Even so, this psychic copy, despite being intangible, can interact with other beings and objects. **'Tsujishinkirō' (辻蜃気楼, Crossroad Mirage): Another Seireijutsu spell; noted to be one of Marin's most powerful attacks overall. Marin spreads her reiatsu outwards, shooting it towards the foe to flank their sides. There, using Seireijutsu, she opens a portal on both sides. Inside of both portals, there are two different futures—thus disorienting the foe; because they are in the middle of the two possible futures, creating a crossroads and not knowing which way to decide. After a few moments, their indecisiveness will prove their undoing, as they will be attacked mentally by the mental pressure exerted. Magi *'Magi' (魔技, Magic Skill): Magi is a special spiritual energy conversation spell developed by Vittoria Giovanna and later learned by Marin; this enables her to break down the basic elements of various spells and then focus them upon her blade or her limbs; this essentially combines spiritual energy with her Zanjutsu and Hakuda in order to cause various effects, in addition to merely strengthening blows. Magi generally allows Marin to swiftly deal elemental damage, compared to regular Kidō, which requires incantation time but covers wide areas. **'Tenpōrin'in' (転法輪印, Dharmacakra Mudra): A self-effecting spell that Marin uses if she is significantly troubled in a battle; it erases any doubts in her mind that could refrain her during the fight. **'Eishōrai' (鋭招来, Sharp Invitation): Eishōrai is a special support, which enables Marin to increase the power of her offensive blows. She points a finger in the sky and gathers reishi onto the tip of her finger, before spinning around, causing the reishi to scatter around her; this generates a bonus effect that raises her chances of scoring a critical hit upon her foe; as well as enables her to regain a small amount of stamina and reiatsu. **'Tenbu Hōrin' (天舞宝輪, Treasures of Heavens): Marin's most powerful move, it is an offensive and defensive combined spell. It not only traps and defangs Marin's victims, but also wipes out their five senses through various technique calls, and essentially reduces Marin's victims to living corpses by stopping the main functions of the brain that allows the body to think, also called the 6th sense. The offensive power of this attack is so destructive that it can easily destroy the defenses of the opponent. **'Tenma Kōfuku' (天魔降伏, Demon Pacifier): Tenma Kōfuku is a special spell that focuses not on offense, but teleportation; it's idea is that of not destroying the foe, but removing them from the fight. The moment that Marin grabs ahold of the foe, she can activate the spell, which teleports them out of sight and out of the fight, sending the foe to a location of Marin's choosing. **'Tenkūhaja Chimimōryō' (天空覇邪魑魅魍魎, Heaven Supremacy on Evil Spirits of Rivers and Mountains): Marin distorts time and space, and adds her own reiatsu into the mix, manifesting a large glyph underneath herself; this glyph has the effect of drawing in stray reishi particles from the atmosphere, increasing the power of this spell exponentially; after a few moments, Marin levitates into the air, and then transfers the energy to her Zanpakutō though the glyph, which she swings forward in an arc, unleashing a massive blast of reiryoku in the form of several massive pillars which erupt from the ground around the foe. The moment that the pillars touch the foe, they are blasted into the air as they receive incredible damage until the glyph is dispelled, while Marin floats back down to the ground, ending the spell. Stolen Zanpakutō Not much is known about Marin's Zanpakutō due to her reliance on Seireijutsu and Magi; but it has been stated that it is a "Holy Demonic Sword" (聖魔剣, Seimaken); and that it takes the form of a European sword with a reddish purple grip, and a golden hilt with stylized crosses at the edges of the hilt; the blade of the sword coils into a spiral that can penetrate any target because of its wickedly curved design. *'Bodai Shōryūha' (菩提昇龍覇, Enlightenment Rising Dragon Force): The basic attack of Marin's Zanpakutō which she can activate in its sealed state; she intensifies her reiatsu and focuses it at a singular point; the tip of her blade, before unleashing a powerful upwards spinning slash that releases her reiatsu upwards, moulding and shaping the reiryoku into the form of a majestic dragon which ascends into the sky, violently attacking the foe while rising, giving the visage of a dragon devouring its prey. A variant on the attack is when it is not completely vertical instead, it is horizontal, showing the visage of a dragon that rotates around its prey. However, Bodai Shōryūha does have one weakness—while performing the move, Marin's heart will be left open for a millisecond. **'Shikai': In Shikai, the blade of Marin's Zanpakutō becomes a pair of chains, which are perfectly suited for both defense and offense, sharing these traits with the traditional Manriki-gusari, a chain-based weapon used in Japanese martial arts; when idle, they hang about 1 or 2 feet long from each of her arms. Even without Marin's guidance, the chains are sentient on their own. The force that the chains possess is rather impressive; able to shatter seki-sekki in a single blow. In addition, Marin can manipulate her spiritual energy and produce grappling hooks at the ends, which enables her to scoop up an opponent and smash them into various structures, including other foes. It should be noted that the chains can extend to possibly infinite reach for the sole purpose of striking her foe. ***'Shikai Special Abilities': The name of the ability is known as Seiunren Shinsenga (星雲連閃牙, Nebula Chains of the Gods that bare Flashing Fangs). It revolves around the manipulation of the chains of Marin's Shikai; despite sounding rather simple, it is extremely deadly- and even then, it is usually limited as she does not want to use her full power because she does not want to kill the opponents. ****'Sanmai' (三昧, the state of perfect meditative union): With this technique, Marin can manipulate her Zanpakutō—now in the form of chains, in any matter that she wishes. This enables her to pump the chains full of spiritual energy, producing a rocket propulsion effect that shoots them towards the foe. From there, they rapidly slice into the foe and wrap themselves around them. This causes the foe to be stuck, bound by the chains, while Marin can attack them in any way that she wishes. ****'Shūtei' (集諦, the noble truth of suffering's accumulation): A simple technique in which Marin sends spiritual energy up the chains, before twirling them around herself at high speeds, causing them to take upon the form of a powerful barrier that is capable to reflecting attacks of any kind. This is done in a manner that shows the true properties of the chains; the moment that an opposing spiritual attack makes contact with the chains, it morphs the properties of the attack and reverses them, returning them back to the foe with five times the power and speed of the original. ****'Chūdō' (中道, the middle way, moderation in favor of indulgence or mortification): Another technique; Marin sets the chains on the ground to mimic a circular web; in this state, the chains construct a variable distance between Marin and her opponent—the moment that the opponent attempts to enter within five meters of where the web is set up, they will spontaneously activate; slashing at the foe while discharging volts of pure spiritual energy at them. This technique is noted to be rather difficult to overcome; as befitting the tricky nature of Marin's Zanpakutō. ****'Kutai' (苦諦, the noble truth that life is full of suffering): A special technique where Marin sends the chains forwards, causing the triangle end of the chain to aim at the foe as it curves around and wraps around them, constricting them in a spider net as they weave around the foe, capturing them before reforming into a trap around the opponent's feet, clamping down on the opponent. Marin has stated that originally, Kutai was six attacks, but eventually, she modified all of them into a singular technique as to save time. ****'Kūkyo' (空虚, emptiness, the concept that all things are without absolute identity or permanence): This is a defensive technique that links directly to Marin's spiritual pressure. With a singular hand movement, she spreads her spiritual pressure outwards and it whirls around the foe in the form of a stream, emitting a special toxin that slowly begins to paralyze the foe. As Marin becomes more determined to use her true power, the stream will eventually transfigure into the final technique of Marin's Zanpakutō. ****'Ichini Kaeru Tensei' (一に還る転生, All Souls Transmigrate and Return to Life): The strongest attack that Marin has; though by the time that she has chosen to activate it, she has usually been mostly exhausted of her spiritual power; and thus, it is quite obviously her last resort. She raises her hands into the sky, gathering spiritual energy and transferring her spiritual pressure to her fingertips. There, she punches forwards with both of her hands, releasing a singular, overwhelming burst of spiritual energy in the form of one hundred dragons that manifest behind her, shooting across the sky as the foe is destroyed by the dragons that strike them almost everywhere at once. Because of its extreme destructive nature, Marin will only use it as a last resort; as it has the properties to terminate anything that can be considered "darkness", such as Hollows, Visored, and Arrancar. **'Bankai': In Bankai, Marin loses access to her chains; but instead, she gains a blazing aura of pure white around her figure. ***'Bankai Special Abilities': The ability of Marin's Bankai is a rather tricky one to describe in detail, though it enables Marin to project her blows using spiritual particles themselves as a perfect fulcrum, even if it doesn't belong to her or if it's in the field of her spiritual pressure. This makes sure that there's absolutely zero chances of any spiritual defense measures that can hold off Marin's blow—as it witnesses all forms of offense and defense as a singular concept, and thus, it treats the foe's own power as a medium for Marin's attacks; the power is pure, and it doesn't feel the need to manipulate and control anything that Marin or the foe can utilize, and so, there is zero chances of defending against Marin in Bankai. If the foe attempts to utilize spiritual attacks against Marin, then her Bankai will turn the energy on the foe and harness the spiritual energy generated by the foe's attack to enhance Marin's blow. Trivia *The only reason that Marin was created was because I wanted to make a character based on the appearance of my favourite character of Per-chan's, Vittoria Giovanna. When I asked if I could use some of Vittoria's abilities for Marin, Per-chan allowed me to; and thus all credit goes to her for creating these skills.